Many victims of injury to the brain or spinal cord are left paralyzed and in need of care so that they can continue to live active and productive lives. It was reported in 1988, that the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research estimated that in the United States alone, there were 300,000 wheelchair-bound paraplegics and quadriplegics; many of whom keep physically active by playing various sports; such as, tennis and basketball, while in their wheelchairs.
In order that wheelchair-bound persons may expand their activity to aquatic recreation and aquatic sports, such as, water polo, after considerable research and experimentation, the aquatic wheelchair of the present invention has been devised which comprises, essentially, a main flotation body having a seat portion and a backrest portion, flotation paddle wheels are mounted on the seat portion on each side thereof, and a flotation stabilizer wheel is detachably connected to the backrest portion. The flotation paddle wheels are constructed and arranged to facilitate the convenient grasping of the top portions of the paddle portions of the paddle wheels by the user when seated for manually propelling the wheelchair not only on soft terrain, such as a sandy beach or grass areas, but also in water, such as a pool, lake, bay or ocean.